During a familiarization flight with a flight instructor in a recently purchased Mooney M20M, the pilot was attempting a soft field takeoff at the airport in Chandler, Arizona.
The tower controller cleared him for takeoff “with no delay.” He quickly taxied the airplane to the runway centerline, applied power, and pulled back on the yoke. He told investigators that, in retrospect, the back pressure used was too abrupt.
The airplane entered ground effect about 10 knots slower than normal and was unable to maintain flight in ground effect and he was struggling to maintain runway heading. The airplane touched down “abruptly several times.”
The airplane drifted to the left and he thought he had a positive rate of climb, so he retracted the landing gear.
Additionally, he told investigators he was “too aggressive” with control inputs and “caused a stall.”
The left wing hit the taxiway and the airplane came to rest on the ramp. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing.
The pilot reported that the instructor did not take the flight controls. The flight instructor did not provide a statement to the NTSB.
The pilot added there were no pre-accident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
The airport’s automated weather observation station reported that, about five minutes after the accident, the wind was from 090° at 13 knots. The pilot was departing on runway 04L.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s improper pitch control during takeoff and his exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall. Contributing to the accident was the flight instructor’s failure to take remedial action.
This September 2019 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
From the report:
“The airplane was also being pushed off the left side of the runway by the cross wind and I knew if the tire hit the median it would be impossible to control. I thought I had established a small rate of climb but was just above stall. I put up the landing gear hoping I could increase the rate of climb and correct the airplane heading.”
A CFI was on board & rode through all this? Wow.
This pilot actually has 46 hours in the aircraft over the 5 months that he’s owned it.
He just ‘screwed up’ the soft field takeoff, over rotated and stalled the aircraft.
From the photo, it looks like a nasty wreck.
It’s sad that the instructor didn’t react to make corrections…?